Martin O’Neill believes Saturday’s opponents Arsenal are ‘as good as anyone on their day’ – but remains confident his Villa troops can spring an upset.

The Gunners will enter the game brimming with confidence following last weekend’s victory over Manchester United.

Villa have suffered back-to-back league defeats for the first time since March, after setbacks against Newcastle and Middlesbrough.

Arsene Wenger’s side have proven unpredictable all season, losing to Fulham, Hull and Stoke already this term. While the Villa boss reckons their class cannot be questioned, he admits they lack the consistency of the rest of the top four.

O’Neill said: “Their game against Manchester United, interestingly for me, did not surprise me. It could have gone either way, that game.

“Arsenal go and prove their pedigree and I think that is what the top four sides have continuously done over the last few years.

“The fact is that Arsenal, in terms of football, are as good as anybody on their day, They may be looking for the consistency that Chelsea and Liverpool are showing this season and United have shown in the past.”

It is sure to be one of the toughest challenges Villa have faced this season but O’Neill reckons his team, as yet unbeaten at The Emirates, are as likely to get a result there as anywhere else.

He said: “It is not who we play next it is just the next game. We are as liable to go and get a result against someone that people wouldn’t expect us to.

“I never judge the league like that, honestly. I never look ahead. What I do do is take a batch of games and say can we get x number of points from those games. But not who we play in the games.”